Module No: ARD504 – Creative Futures 2 - London Industrial Visit - Thursday and Conclusion

Thursday

The Moving Picture Company with Ben Owen


The Moving Picture Company (MPC) are a post production company, focussing in VFX for film, advertising, digital and television.  They have offices in London, Santa Monica in California, Yaletown in Vancouver, Bangalore in India and New York, all offices are networked with a dedicated digital infrastructure.

Their stunning visual treatments can be seen in some of today’s most memorable commercials.  At the same time, their integrated approach drives the use of existing or newly created assets across the whole range of today’s new media, from online to outdoor, hand-held to code-driven installations.

They have a dynamic team of fresh talent from various cultural backgrounds and different career paths, and therefore have a diverse and creative team.

www.moving-picture.com 

Sadly, this tour got cancelled but I took the opportunity to tour some of the famous landmarks of London instead.


I love this photo as it captures the feel of London, whether you are a tourist, breaking for lunch, on a trip or just shopping.  London is so many different things to different people.  Although I had been briefly to London once before I never got the chance to see the famous landmarks, and I wanted to try and capture not only the magnificence of the landmarks but the essence of London too.




Although I did also try an elusive challenge of catching Alex Burden smiling!! – I’m glad to say after a few attempts and even with Alex endeavouring to hide behind her camera I did achieve my goal.

Due to chance rather than timing I was also able to capture the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.



Of course, the duck had to come to London as he had visited Paris last year.

 Framestore CFC with Ben White

Framestore is the largest visual effects and computer animation studio in Europe, with over 20 years of experience in digital film and video technology.  Although I have checked out their website, I found it seems to promote the finished films rather than detail the effects and procedures they have the ability to offer potential clients.

www.framestore.com  


The tour was again a presentation of the work they do and the films they have been involved in.  The latest blockbuster film and the majority of their presentation was on Sherlock Holmes “A Game of Shadows”.  The majority of this film was created using DMP (Digital Matt Painting) used 2.5D which allows for more flexibility in processing the film.  They used Hybrid cameras to ensure quality was achieved.

To achieve these effects, Framestore initially started with set measurement and scanning, taking reference photographs and camera floor sheets.  They then went on to use lighting references, lens grids and grain samples to match the quality of the film.

 Framestore then went into detail on the production of the Train ambush scene.  This started with the creation of a CG train, CG steam (which took senior designers 8 weeks to create), and a 2D environment.  Then to add to the realism of the scene they created a CG environment and a digital doubles of the actors.

We then were taken into detail on the production of the Waterfall scene from the film.  This was recorded between 24 to 724 frames per second, depending on the action showing in the clip.  They use the Maya – 3D digital editing to merge the transitions between CG and real life i.e. for when they actors fall off the waterfall they are the digital characters but as the near the base of the waterfall it changes to the actual actors in free fall.  They then went on to explain they had used Nuke to create the waterfall for which many layers were used, much detail was included as this is one of the longest scenes to be created due to the detail of the water cascading when in close up shots.  Alot of the images had come originally from photographs in Photoshop.

We then took a break from the visual effects, for them to explain the application process for applying for a job at Framestore.  Again like the previous companies they wanted the applicant to create a show reel, detailing references, and short pieces of film/effects we had created.  They said to ensure the show reel demonstrates any additional knowledge you have gained that you can bring to your role in Framestore.  Try to make the show reel fun and entertaining with your creations as Framestore said they have found a person who enjoys and is passionate about their work achieves better results.

Framestore then explained that they run summer internships that last for 8 weeks, and they currently can only offer 8 places per year.  As you can imagine therefore it is highly competitive and they endeavour to focus on applicants’ quality of film production rather than academic qualifications.  They then stressed again how important our show reels would be, they recommended that the show reel is no longer than 1 minute (wow its getting shorter!), and needs to include all your best work.  They prefer your show reel to be submitted online rather than by DVD.

One thing I found interesting from the tour which I feel could benefit me in the degree work was Framestore’s ability to use digital and colour corrections to alter the effect they want for a scene, for example the train scene in Sherlock Holmes was shot during the day but using colour correction it appeared in the film as night time.

Framestore I feel specialise in the digital effects of post production, and a lot of films can benefit from these techniques.  Although this did seem to give them a blinkered focus on post production where as other companies still seem to value how the scenes were originally recorded.


Molinare with Tom Rogers

Molinare is a Film and Broadcast Post Production Facility based in London, and is well respected within the industry, as it has been around for nearly 40 years.
They provide state of the art Digital Intermediate, Visual Effects, Sound, Restoration, 2D-3D Conversion, Animation, Library & Data Management services, International Servicing and Post Production Project Management.

 

www.molinare.co.uk   

 



As this tour began at 7pm, most of the employees had left for the day, so this tour was a practical walkabout rather than a presentation of projects worked on.  It started with the introduction as to who Molinaire are and what they do.  We were taken initially into the second building where we started the tour on the top floor in what was simply the Noise Room – Foley Studio.  It reminded me of the behind scene look at radio station programmes, as the room had gravel pits to walk on, doors to open or slam, old fashioned telephones, bells, bottles, basically everything you could need to create authentic sound effects.  A piece of advice given to us was the it was the sad duty of the runner’s who get  the job of tidying the room up after a recording session and by all accounts it can get quite messy.

From there on, we visited the various editing rooms, again we visited an offline editing suite like that we had seen in Envy.  Interestingly all the studios are named after a planet in the solar system.  We then went on to see one of their visual effects rooms, sadly as all the staff had left for the day, we only got to see the layout and not it in operation.  We then got to view the DI theatre which is the largest and most technically advanced grading theatre available in the world with also having the ability for 3D viewing. 

Apart from this theatre they do have other viewing rooms around their complex to enable you to view the quality of the film and the ability to test the audio before it is aired, to ensure it meets the client’s specifications.  Sadly there were rooms we weren’t able to see as the equipment in them was too expensive to risk us damaging it.

This tour focussed on the quality of video and sound with an emphasis on sound effects.  As the other tours had focussed more on visual effects it was interesting to gain this perspective.  The knowledge I gained from this tour initially is to always check the real life sound of my films, to not just rely on the audio mixers in final cut but to play it back in a screening room situation before allowing it to be aired to the viewers. 

I felt Molinaire took as greater care on the television productions as they do on their film productions.  Their focus on attention to detail and quality reflects in the work they produce, although I enjoyed this tour, there is still a part of me that would have preferred to see the studios etc in use rather than being told what goes on in the room with nothing happening.


Conclusion

The benefit I gained from the London Industrial Visit was that I actually got to see the post production being undertaken.  The London Industrial visit enabled me to gain valuable connections within the companies, which could prove beneficial should I decide to apply for work experience or internships.  However sadly, upon reflection it has made realise that although I have the opportunity and skills to go into post production, I don’t feel this is the career path I will choose as I am more interested in the film production.

I did appreciate that all the companies focus on expanding and developing their companies, and the dedication and support they provide to all their employees.  I really appreciated the knowledge and views they imparted on creating show reels as this knowledge can be transferred to applications for vacancies in production as well.

Upon reflection, I am sad that I missed the tour of the BBC but acknowledge this was down in the end to circumstances beyond my control.  I do wish the London Industrial Visit had included the opportunity to visit more companies involved in the physical side of filming rather than just the post production side.